


A Pattern of Bruises Hides the Pain Beneath

by I_Logophile



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Bruises, Cassandra’s Revenge, First Fanfiction, Hurt Varian (Disney), Hurt/Comfort, Lance is confused but he’s rollin’ with it, Medical Inaccuracies, POV Alternating, Post-Cassandra’s Revenge, Team Awesome (Disney: Tangled), Varian Has Issues (Disney), Varian’s got a lotta stuff buried beneath his adorable exterior, and therapy, he needs some milk, lots of therapy, rib injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:42:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27135400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Logophile/pseuds/I_Logophile
Summary: Cassandra’s rocks had done more damage than Varian thought. And falling off a tower did not help.Basically, addressing Cassandra’s actions in Cassandra’s Revenge from various points of view, including hers, with a side of angst and hurt/comfort.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Lance Strongbow & Varian
Comments: 20
Kudos: 151





	A Pattern of Bruises Hides the Pain Beneath

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic, so I have no idea how to format anything. Please no flames, but I will accept any and all construction criticism with open arms and a handshake. Anything ya got, shoot.  
> Also, I’ve legitimately only watched the RTA episodes with Varian in it, so I only know how to write Angry and Catalina based on what I’ve read in other fanfics.  
> Additionally, the POV changes around a whole bunch, but I tried to make it obvious who was thinking/talking/doing what.  
> (FYI I have no medical training, so take everything in here with a grain of salt).

Lance was saying something to someone, but Varian wasn’t paying attention. The only thing he could focus on was the screaming pain in his chest. It seemed that perhaps Cassandra’s rocks had done more damage than he’d initially thought.

Before he’d fallen asleep in the small cage thousands of feet above the very safe and stable ground, he’d checked his ribs to make sure they were okay. In his desperation to reach Cassandra, he’d disregarded the twinge he’d felt after she slammed those accursed black rocks against his chest. But up in the cage, there wasn’t anything to distract him from the increasingly painful throbbing. He’d shrugged off his vest and unbuttoned his shirt to find an honestly rather mesmerizing array of black, blue, purple, and green patterned across his chest. But that was it. Sure breathing was a bit of a struggle and he kept coughing painfully, but that was fine. Although he was pretty sure the coughing was a side effect from the truth serum, but since he’d never personally taken the potion, he didn’t really know. When he’d given it to the people of Corona, it’d been diluted in the cookie batter; Cassandra just gave it to him straight out of the bottle, so he honestly had no idea what the effects would be. Regardless, he could deal with uneven breathing and one or two coughing fits for a few days until he got over the serum’s side-effects and the bruises faded.

But apparently, it wasn’t just bruised. Landing in Lance’s arms, despite them being much softer than the ground, seemed to have jarred his body in just the right way. And by that, he meant the wrong way.

Pain arced and stabbed across his whole torso, ripping and tearing through his insides. With the agony making it hard to breathe, he was forced to take quick, shallow breaths in an attempt to at least get some air into his lungs. But his harsh breathing threw him into another coughing fit that felt akin to choking on needles. It was as though his entire torso shrieked and protested at even the smallest movement; like his whole rib cage had been completely dismantled and then jigsawed back together in the wrong places. 

Lance’s arms tightened around him as though he were about to hug Varian, but before he could, a moan of pain followed by another burning cough forced its way out of Varian’s clenched jaw. 

“Varian?” came Lance’s concerned voice, “Buddy? What’s wrong, little man?”

Varian squinted his eyes open to see Lance’s expression twisted into one of a worried mother hen.

“My- My chest,” he ground out between shallow breaths and gritted teeth. 

“Umm,” Lance said, his confusion evident as he glanced over at Angry, Catalina, and Max for assistance. “That doesn’t help me much, bud. Like, what’s wrong with your chest? Is it your ribs? Or your lungs? Or--?” 

Lance was cut off as a large rumble shook the tower. Losing his footing, he took a couple of stumbling steps to the side to try and regain his balance, but in doing so, he jostled Varian even more.

A white-hot lightning bolt of agony shot through Varian, and he couldn’t hold back the screech of pain that tore out of his throat. The sound carried through the air where, unbeknownst to Varian, Lance, and their little group, it was heard by Cassandra who stood on the black platform she’d created to catch her own fall.

Lance let out a girlish yelp of surprise at the sudden loud noise of pain. He struggled to think of what he was supposed to do in the sort of situation. The already small 15 year old in his arms looked even smaller as he broke down into another painful-sounding coughing fit. Lance’s breathing stuttered as he finally seemed to fully comprehend the state Varian was in. 

His young friend had always had bags under his eyes from pulling all-nighters to do various experiments, but with his eyes slightly sunken from the strain of the past few days, they were even more pronounced than before. The dark bruise-like marks made him look almost comically similar to his pet raccoon. Varian’s raven hair was dull and slightly greasy from the lack of a proper wash, and his pale skin had gathered a thin sheen of sweat from the intensity of the past few minutes. His once bright blue eyes now appeared dull, glassy, and utterly exhausted.

“Ok. Ok, I can do this,” Lance muttered to himself. “I’m not entirely sure what I need to be doing, but whatever it is, I can do it.”

“Lance.” Varian’s voice came out in a strangled gasp riddled with pain. Lance leaned in close, putting his ear next to Varian’s mouth to hear him better, eager for instruction. “You’re… squeezing me.”

Lance looked down to see his large arms were indeed squeezing Varian’s small frame rather tightly. He loosened his hold immediately, sputtering out apologies, and Varian’s clenched fists relaxed slightly. 

“Umm, guys?” Angry said abruptly from behind Lance. “I think we probably go now before Cassandra decides to kill us or something.”

Varian flinched at the name that Angry had tossed out so casually, and his chest seemed to throb harder almost as if it recognized the cause of its current agony. Suddenly, he was hit by another bout of hoarse coughing that ended in a pained groan and Lance looked back down at him, worry and indecision clear on his face. He opened his mouth to say something before thinking better of it and simply nodding at Angry, gesturing for her to take the lead. Angry grabbed her sister’s hand without another word and began dragging her back into the tower and down the staircase, Lance and Max following not far behind with Varian still in Lance’s arms. 

“Alright, Varian, we’re just gonna take this nice and slow,” he murmured more to himself than to Varian, trying to keep himself from jostling his injured friend too much.

-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-

Cassandra almost closed the exit, she almost blocked their escape. Almost. But then she remembered Varian’s scream of pain. The way his tortured howl echoed through the air as the tower rumbled. The noise of agony reverberated through her head like a taunt. _Your fault. Your fault. You did that to him. You hurt him. You’re the cause of whatever suffering he’s going through. All for revenge. You could’ve gotten a sixteen-year-old killed. All for revenge. Your fault he’s hurt. He could be DYING--_ She cut off the thought before it could spiral any further. It wasn’t her fault. It was her destiny. It had to be. There was no other way. 

But she couldn’t completely stamp out the tiny inkling of doubt, regret, remorse that itched at the back of her mind.

So she let them go. She allowed them to escape. The ghost girl could berate her for it later. As she watched them scurry out of her tower, Varian’s scream continued echoing in her head. Making a split-second decision, she lowered her hastily-made platform to the ground and followed them, keeping her distance. She just wanted to make sure they left, she told herself, but what Cassandra really wanted was to make sure Varian was okay.

-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-

“Lance!” 

The group of five turned to see Eugene and Rapunzel running away from the tower to where they stood at the edge of the forest.

“Lance,” Eugene repeated as soon as he and Rapunzel reached the group, both gasping for air. Between huffs, Eugene managed to ask, “Is everyone alright? Have you seen Varian? He got blown off the top of the tower when Rapunzel and Cass were in the middle of their magic fight.”  
Before Lance could answer any of his questions, Eugene’s eyes seemed to finally take in the scene. Angry and Catalina standing, unharmed, off to one side with Max, and Lance holding Varian’s very much harmed, very much exhausted form in his arms.

“Varian!” Rapunzel exclaimed, her gaze zeroing in on his tense frame. She rushed over to him in two quick steps, and, of course, just happened to let her hand rest on his chest as she went to check him over. Varian’s eyes, which had been half-lidded at the time, flew open with a loud cry of pain that dissolved into a series of hacking coughs. 

“Sorry!” Rapunzel yelped, jumping back a bit, not quite sure what she’d done. Varian didn’t reply, as soon as his coughs subsided he simply focused on evening out his breathing, but his eyes still followed Rapunzel’s movements, albeit a little slowly.

“His chest is injured or something,” Lance explained quickly. “We haven’t gotten the chance to check it.”

“Ok,” Eugene said, taking charge as Rapunzel became absorbed with checking over what she could see of Varian without actually touching him again. “We should probably put some distance between us and Cassandra in case she decides to try anything. And then we can stop and check Varian.”

Everyone nodded their approval of the plan. 

Varian flinched at Cassandra’s name.

-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-

Once they finally stopped, Lance, who’d insisted on continuing to carry Varian, gently propped him up against a large oak tree.

Varian groaned in pain and he let out a few rasping coughs, his eyes squeezing shut at the movement. Lance murmured an apology before stepping aside to allow Eugene and Rapunzel access to the injured teen, figuring they both probably had more knowledge about this sort of thing than he did.

“Hey, Varian,” Eugene began, cutting right to the chase. “Um, I’m gonna take off your shirt, okay, bud?” 

Without waiting for a reply, Eugene unbuttoned Varian’s maroon vest and then proceeded to also unbutton his white under-shirt. Varian groaned again when the ex-thief’s hands brushed against his chest.

Wincing, Eugene muttered a quick apology as he peeled back the layers. The ex-thief just managed to hold in his gasp, but Rapunzel and Lance held no such restraint, openly choking on their air, as the three of them beheld the galaxy of bruises mottled across Varian’s skinny chest.

“What? What is it?” Catalina asked worriedly from where she sat upon Max’s back a few feet away. She and her sister went to dismount but Lance quickly turned to them, putting a hand out to stop them.

“He’s just got some really bad bruises, that’s all,” Lance said almost mechanically, before looking back to Varian, trying to hide his skyrocketing levels of worry from the girls. 

Patterned across Varian’s entire chest was an impressive display of bruises of all different colors. Black, blue, purple, green, yellow; he had it all. And it was not a pretty painting.

Lance glanced at Rapunzel and Eugene’s faces for their reactions and found they were complete opposites. Uncharacteristically, Rapunzel seemed at a loss, unsure of what to do to help the friend she’d already let down twice now. In contrast, Eugene’s face was set into one of determination and self-assurance. 

“Alright,” Eugene said abruptly, breaking the heavy silence that had settled over the group. “First, we need to check and see if anything’s broken or dislocated or something.” 

To Varian, he added in a gentler tone, “Ok, Varian, we’re gonna need to move you around a bunch. You think you can handle that, bud?”

Varian groaned softly, his eyes drifting up to Eugene’s face, before giving him a slight nod in answer. 

“Yeah, that’s… that’s fine,” came his wheezy voice, hoarse from coughing.

“Ok,” Eugene said before glancing over to where Rapunzel was kneeled on the ground next to him. Softly, he said, “Blondie, maybe you should take the girls and go get some firewood. I have a feeling Varian’s not really up for any more travel today, so we may as well get started on making camp.”

It took Rapunzel a moment to drag her gaze away from Varian’s bruised chest and up to her boyfriend’s face. 

“Y- Yeah,” she agreed distractedly. “Come on, girls.” She stood up shakily, gesturing for Angry and Catalina to follow her. Reluctantly, with many side-glances at Varian’s heavily bruised torso, they let her lead them away from the others.

Now that it was just him, Lance, Varian, who had other things on his mind, and Max, who was patrolling the edge of their camp, some of Eugene’s true worry began to creep into his mask of confidence.

“What do we do?” Lance asked after a long moment, silently prompting his friend out of his worried thoughts. 

At the question, Eugene seemed to straighten, his mind getting back to the task at hand. 

“Alright, um, first I’m gonna have to feel around and see if there are any breaks,” Eugene said. “Here, help me sit him up a bit more, so he can breath better.”

Lance nodded, they both gently grasped Varian’s biceps, and carefully straightened him up against the oak tree. But, despite their best efforts, Varian still gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, hissing at the renewed throbbing pain in his chest caused by the movement.

“Sorry, Varian, but this is gonna keep hurting, but, uh,” Eugene looked around, his eyes landing on Lance. “Lance is gonna hold your hand and you can squeeze it if you need to.” He paused for a moment before adding with a slight wince, “But if it, uh, if it hurts too much, just tell me to stop, okay?”

Varian gave him a small nod, his eyes remaining tightly closed. 

“Okay,” Eugene repeated, steeling himself. He nodded to Lance, and Lance set his hand atop Varian’s clenched fist. The teen quickly latched onto the proffered hand and started squeezing it. Lance winced a little at the pressure before berating himself; Varian was in a lot worse pain than he was right now. 

Hesitantly, Eugene pressed his fingers onto the bruises and began feeling around for any abnormal bumps or ridges. The discolored skin was relatively warm to the touch and the whole area seemed to be somewhat swollen, making it a little harder for Eugene to feel out each of Varian’s individual ribs.

The whole time, Varian didn’t utter a single noise. He was biting his lip hard, his breathing hissing out in short wheezes between his teeth, and his eyes couldn’t seem to shut tightly enough. He squeezed Lance’s hand as much as he could, trying to ignore the pain that Eugene’s prodding fingers were causing. His whole chest felt as though it were in a red-hot vise that just kept clamping tighter and tighter. 

Suddenly something stabbed him in the side and Varian’s eyes flew open with a cry of pain. He looked down at his chest, expecting to see a knife in his side, only to discover that nothing had in fact stabbed him. It was only Eugene's finger resting against one of his ribs, a few inches under his armpit. The area was noticeably more swollen and the bruising was denser, sporting several hues of dark purple and black.

Eugene and Lance had gone completely still at Varian’s abrupt cry before Eugene unfroze and made a poor attempt at humor.

“Well, that one’s _definitely_ fractured.” Eugene’s tone fell flat before he even finished speaking. Abandoning his attempt to make light of the situation, he tried again, “Varian? You doing ok, buddy?”

Lance visibly winced and Eugene just managed to stop himself from face-palming. Of course, Varian wasn’t doing ok! The kid could barely breathe without coughing his lungs out! 

Varian gave Eugene the most deadpan look the ex-thief had ever seen. Lance almost laughed but was cut off when Varian squeezed his hand tighter, his deadpan expression twisting into the increasingly familiar one of pain as several coughs clawed their way out of his throat.

Wordlessly, Eugene resumed feeling around Varian’s torso. Over the next few minutes, Eugene poked and prodded Varian’s sides, eliciting more sharp gasps of pain from the boy as two more cracked ribs were discovered, these on the opposite side of his torso as the first one. 

When he finished poking around Varian’s chest, he sat up with a worried frown, watching the teen’s bruised chest move up and down with each breath.

It was a moment before he spoke, “So there are three cracked ribs... None of them are displaced…” His brow furrowed, deep in thought.

Varian opened his mouth as if to say something, but was interrupted by a violent fit of coughing which left him gasping for air like a fish.

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by his growing worry and unsure of what to do about it, Lance buried his face in his hand (Varian was still squeezing the other one, he was definitely going to have bruises) and let out a groan. He looked up when he heard a breathy wheeze from Varian as he attempted to speak.

“Something—” He coughed again. “Something in my… my back doesn’t- doesn’t feel right.”

Eugene’s face filled with incredulity. “You couldn’t have told us this earlier?!”

“Well… Well, I was kinda—” He broke into more hoarse coughs and had to catch his breath before he could continue. “I was more focused on the- on the fact that every—” He coughed once, “everything hurt! I wasn’t looking for- for a specific point of pain!” he finished breathlessly before being hit by another fit, each cough racking through his skinny frame as he tried to pull in air. 

Chastised, Eugene looked down, feeling guilty. Varian was in immense pain and just about asphyxiated every ten seconds, and here he was getting angry with the kid about something that was beyond his control.

When he looked back up, Lance was holding Varian’s shoulder in a comforting grip and the kid’s coughs had subsided, leaving him struggling to catch his breath. Eugene was once again filled with more guilt.

“Look, Varian,” he sighed. “I’m sorry… I just- I don’t know, I got frustrated. It’s not your fault.”

Varian looked up at him with a small, wavery smile. “It’s fine,” he assured him softly. They descended into a comfortable silence, but were quickly brought back to reality by a particularly strained cough.

“Alright, so how do we want to do this?” Eugene asked no one in particular. “We probably shouldn’t just lean you forward cause that would make it harder to breathe... Laying you down on your stomach probably isn’t a good idea either cause of, you know, your bruises and your cracked ribs…,” he trailed off, thinking.

Surprising himself, Lance found he had an idea. “We could have him stand and I could hold him up while you check everything over,” he offered, hesitant in case it wasn’t well received. 

Eugene thought over Lance’s suggestion for a few seconds before sighing.

“Yeah, that’s probably our best option,” he said, looking tired. “I can’t think of anything else.”

After the admission, Varian suddenly gave a long sigh ending in a quiet sniffle, followed, unsurprisingly, by a cough. Lance and Eugene looked down at Varian in concern.

Varian seemed to realize himself and he looked up at them sheepishly with a watery smile.

“It’s just been a long few days,” he whispered before glancing to the side, avoiding their eyes. He sniffled again and coughed. Eugene and Lance shared a sidelong glance, their eyes troubled. A silent conversation passed between them before they reached an unspoken agreement: We’ll talk about it later. 

Eugene stood up and Lance carefully extracted his hand from Varian’s vise-like grip. As soon as he did, the gloved fist clenched into a tight ball and Varian’s gaze returned to the two men. Lance gently grabbed Varian’s upper-arms, trying his best to be mindful of his ribs, and slowly eased the boy off of the oak trunk before picking him up. Varian bit his lip to hold in the whimper that rose in his throat. He was so skinny and light that Lance easily held all of his weight. Cautiously, he let Varian down, allowing him to stand on his own with Lance still keeping a firm, steadying grip on his shoulders should he need the support.

Varian was facing Lance, but he could still feel Eugene standing behind him, watching to make sure he didn’t have to intervene. Once Varian was settled into a standing position, Eugene stepped closer.

“Alrighty then, buddy,” Eugene started. “Where exactly does it feel ‘wrong’, as you put it?” 

Varian inhaled shakily, trying his best to focus on where the pain was coming from rather than how it simply hurt everywhere. 

“I- It’s kinda around my...” He paused for a moment, trying in vain to hold in another cough before it burst out of him. Fresh pain lanced through his chest, and he couldn’t stop the pitiful whine that escaped him.

Lance found he couldn’t do much to comfort Varian as both his hands were occupied, but Eugene laid his own hand on Varian’s shoulder next to where Lance’s was holding the injured teen upright.

“It’s gonna be okay, Varian,” Eugene said softly, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. He paused, then added with a goofy smile, “Hey, when we get back, the doc’ll give you the good stuff, and then _everything_ will feel better.”

Varian looked over his shoulder at Eugene and gave him a weak smile before resuming.

“It’s mostly right along my spine,” he said. “Somewhere around the middle, I think.” His description ended up sounding more like a question than a statement.

“Okay, so…,” Eugene trailed off before ever so gently pressing just above the small of Varian’s back with both hands on either side of his spine. “Here?”

Varian coughed slightly, “Not quite. A little- A little above there.”

Eugene moved his fingers up Varian’s spine carefully feeling for any bumps or abnormalities. Just as his right and left hands passed over two concerningly large bumps on either side of Varian’s spine, the teen let out a loud hiss of pain, tensing in Lance’s grip.

“Y-Yup,” Varian let out a breathless chuckle, devoid of any humor. “I think that’s it.”

Eugene didn’t say anything instead, choosing to focus on the swollen areas, feeling around to try and deduce what was wrong. He leaned in a little closer before muttering a quick apology to Varian and pressing down on the swelling.

Varian, who’d been about to ask Eugene what he’d said, yelled in pain before devolving into another fit of hoarse coughing. 

“Hey!” Lance exclaimed angrily.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry,” Eugene apologized, releasing the pressure. He’d heard no crunching or crackling, meaning that, while still not an impossibility, they most likely weren’t broken. 

Once Varian’s coughing had subsided and he’d caught his breath, he looked over his shoulder to glare at Eugene.

“What was that for?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Sorry,” Eugene repeated. “I was trying to figure out what was wrong. As far as I can tell, they’re not broken or cracked or anything, but I think they are dislocated.”

Varian let go of the glare and slumped, simply exhausted. 

“Okay,” Lance spoke up. “So what do we do about that?”

“Well, I’m going to try to reset them,” Eugene said uncertainly. Varian looked back up at him in trepidation. “I’ve seen it done once when I was- You know what? That’s not important. The point is, I’m gonna try and reset them. I don’t really know what exactly I’m doing but—” Lance glared at Eugene over Varian’s head, looking pointedly at the boy’s apprehensive face, “aaaaand that’s not really helping is it? I’m just gonna stop now.”

Varian’s eyes were wide. “So you’ve never actually personally reset dislocated ribs before?” He squeaked.

“Well, no, not really,” Eugene cut himself off at another glare from Lance. “But I know how to do it,” He added quickly.

Varian was not reassured. He coughed again.

Eugene looked at him suddenly, his brow furrowed. “Wait, what’s with all this coughing? You get cold or something?”

Varian froze for a split second, his eyes seeming to glaze over with a memory, before relaxing so quickly that Eugene questioned whether or not it actually happened.

“I’ll explain later,” Varian reassured them quickly. “Let’s just get this over with first, okay?”

Eugene and Lance shared another look. 

“Okay,” Lance said slowly, giving Varian a long, searching look.

A tense silence filled the air between them before it was broken by another cough.

“Right,” Eugene said, clapping his hands together, “Well, let’s do this, I guess.” He gestured to Lance. “Let’s switch places, so you can stand behind Varian and hold him steady if he needs it.”

Lance followed his instructions, taking his place behind Varian and placing his hands on his shoulders, just in case. Eugene stood in front of the teen and took his arm.

“Okay, so I’m gonna be blunt with you, because of your…” he trailed off and gestured to the galaxy of bruises across Varian’s chest before continuing. “Yeah, so ‘cause of that, this is probably going to hurt more than it normally would, but I don’t know any other way so… yeah. Sorry in advance, I guess?” He shrugged with a helpless look.

Varian schooled his expression the best he could, trying to hide how much Eugene’s words daunted him. 

“Let’s just get this over with,” he repeated.

“Right,” Eugene nodded. “So I’m pretty much just gonna sorta circle each of your arms back and push on your chest. If that doesn’t work then we’re gonna push both of your shoulders back and then pull ‘em forward like you’re hugging yourself. But let’s hope we don’t have to do that ‘cause I’m not sure how good that’ll be for your cracked ribs.”

Varian breathed out. He nodded at Eugene, giving the man a silent go-ahead.

“Okey-doke,” Eugene said, steeling himself.

It was very painful, Varian decided. With every push on his chest, every tug on his arms, his cracked ribs creaked and groaned, grinding together in a gruesome symphony. 

Just then, Eugene tugged on his arm and pushed on his chest and something in Varian’s back shifted sickeningly before sliding into place with a cracking _pop!_ The feeling was akin to a carriage sliding across a gravel road on its side. Except it was inside him. And it _hurt_.

A short scream ripped itself out of Varian’s throat before breaking off into a few hoarse coughs.

Startled by the scream, both Lance and Eugene shouted in alarm, “Varian!”’

Varian didn’t reply, too preoccupied with trying to get his coughing under control so he could breathe.

“Are you okay, buddy?” Eugene asked, terrified he had somehow made it worse.

A few heart-pounding seconds later, Varian managed to reply, “I think you got it back in.”

Eugene and Lance both slumped in relief.

“Thank the Sun,” Lance breathed out, and, without even thinking about it, patted Varian on the shoulder. Varian yelped in pain as Lance’s pat jostled his cracked ribs and the remaining dislocated one.

“Ack! Sorry! Sorry! I’m so sorry,” Lance said, panicking and holding his hands up away from Varian. “I wasn’t thinking- I didn’t mean to-”

“Lance, it’s fine,” Varian cut him off before the man could work himself into an anxiety attack. The teen gritted his teeth and forced a small smile to reassure him that no harm was done.

“Okay, okay,” Lance said, calming down slightly. “Sorry,” he repeated.

Varian just gave him a nod before turning back to Eugene. “One more to go?”

“Uh, yup,” Eugene said after a moment, popping the “p”. He took Varian’s other arm and repeated the process. This time, the rib took longer to pop back in, slowly grinding its way into place over what felt like an eternity to Varian. Through it all, the teen gritted his teeth, trying not to make any noises. Though he couldn’t stop the occasional whimper that slipped out. Each time that happened, Eugene would pause for half a second before continuing. Eventually, the rib snapped back into place with nauseating, wet _pop!_ Varian bit his lip hard, almost enough to draw blood, but, despite this, a strangled yell still managed to force its way out of his throat.

Lance and Eugene winced simultaneously at the sound. 

“Okay, well, I think we’re done now, so… I guess, do ya wanna sit back down then?” Eugene asked somewhat uncertainly.

“Yeah-,” Varian broke off with a cough before resuming in a tired voice. “Yeah, sitting sounds- sitting sounds good. Let’s… let’s do that.”

-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-

Once they’d gotten Varian settled on the ground, Eugene tightly wrapped Varian’s ribs as best he could with strips he’d torn from Max’s saddlecloth (he couldn’t just tear up his shirt, and Lance would’ve thrown a fit if it had been his, and Eugene couldn’t bring himself to ask Varian to tear up his own shirt). 

Lance had excused himself to go search through Max’s saddlebags a little while ago (“For medicine,” He‘d said, but Eugene knew he was probably just looking for something to eat), so Eugene was left to keep Varian company.

Varian looked utterly spent, exhaustion making his eyes droop and his shoulders slump. He appeared to be just on the verge of falling asleep, and yet… something was still nagging at Eugene. While he thought about the extent of the Varian’s injuries, a few things the boy had said earlier echoed around in his brain: “It’s been a long few days… I’ll explain later”. And, though he hadn’t said anything before, Eugene had noticed how Varian flinched at any mention of Cassandra. He was struck by a terrible thought and, suddenly, he found himself unable to wait any longer. 

“Varian?” Eugene asked, carefully nudging the teen. Varian snorted slightly and shifted to look at Eugene, his tired blue eyes looking vaguely irritated at being denied sleep.

“What?” he asked with a small cough.

“What happened?” Eugene asked bluntly. “With Cassandra?” Varian flinched at her name, but Eugene forged ahead. “Lance said he caught you when you fell, so how did you crack your ribs or dislocate them? Why do you keep coughing? What did Cassandra- Why do you keep flinching?” Eugene ended on a slightly desperate note when he saw Varian recoil. 

Suddenly, Varian seemed to be on the verge of tears and Eugene regretted ever opening his mouth. 

“Sorry,” he said. “I- I’m sorry. You don’t want to deal with this right now. Just- just go back to sleep. Rapunzel and the girls should be back soon with firewood.”

Varian sniffed before saying, “It’s fine, I—” he broke off, looking down and clenching his eyes shut. “I just- I tried so hard. I tried so hard to reach her. To- to get through to her. To show her that I can empathize with her. That I _understood!_ ” His voice took on a slightly hysterical tone as he continued. “I told her everything! I told her what would happen if she didn’t stop! What it felt like to lose _everything!_ What it felt like to have nothing left! And she still-!” He let out a somewhat insane sounding laugh, devoid of any humor. “She still chose to- to keep going! To keep going until she had nothing left to lose! I told her that I know what that’s like! I told her—” he broke off into a fit of coughing while Eugene sat next to him, helplessly lost, with no idea how to comfort his friend. Varian caught his breath and continued slightly less hysterically than before. “I know what that’s like… And she still wouldn’t listen…,” Suddenly his eyes became alight with an old anger that Eugene was uncomfortably familiar with. “So instead she decides to drug me,” Eugene looked up sharply, opening his mouth to cut in, but Varian wasn’t done yet, “and cage me up thousands of feet in the air right after having a temper tantrum and all but smashing my chest flat with a bunch of rocks!” He gasped breathlessly, heaving as he fought to catch his breath. “I guess what goes around comes around though, right?” He let out a hysterical giggle. “And she said she didn’t want me to get hurt. Hah! Bit late for that...”

Abruptly, Varian seemed to remember himself and snapped his gaze up to where Eugene was staring at him stone-faced.

“Umm,” Varian coughed, suddenly uncertain how to proceed after his concerningly emotional outburst. “I’m fine though?” he tried.

Eugen clenched his jaw and looked Varian dead in the eye. “Cassandra drugged you?” he gritted out. “She did this to you?”

“It was just a truth serum,” Varian reassured him weakly, though he wasn’t entirely sure what difference that made. “She found it in my bag. She just wanted the incantation.”

A muscle in Eugene's jaw twitched. “That doesn’t matter. She still kidnapped you, drugged you, and broke your ribs just because she was angry! I don’t care what Rapunzel says, she’s gone too far this time!”

Varian almost wanted to protest. He had no idea why, but he almost wanted to defend the woman who’d once been his friend. But then he remembered the harsh ropes digging into his wrists. He remembered the slimy texture of the truth serum as it forced him to betray his kingdom once again. He remembered the crunch of his chest as a column of black rocks slammed into him. He remembered being caged and helpless thousands of feet in the open air, the wind howling around him. He remembered and his protests died in his throat along with his little remaining hope for Cassandra. 

He sniffled again, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. The sound seemed to bring Eugene back to himself and his hard, angry gaze softened at the tears brimming in Varian’s eyes. He laid a comforting hand on Varian’s shoulder.

“Hey, it’ll be fine,” Eugene said gently. “Everything’ll turn out in the end. It always does.”

Varian gave him a half-hearted, watery smile that fell from his face as quickly as it appeared. The teen sighed and suddenly he looked five times his young age.

“I think the coughing is a side effect from consuming an excessive amount of the concentrated truth serum, rather than a small, diluted quantity like…” Varian paused for a moment before resuming. “Like what I gave the guards… back then.” As if on cue, he coughed hoarsely a couple of times. 

Eugene wasn’t sure what to say, so he settled for a quiet, “Ah.”

Varian sighed again and rested his head back against the oak tree with a small _thunk_. “I’m just… I'm just gonna go to sleep now,” he said softly. He shifted slightly and winced when it jostled his ribs before settling down and closing his eyes, ignoring Eugene. 

Eugene released a quiet sigh of his own, letting out some of his residual anger at Cassandra in the puff of air. He looked around, and noted that Lance still wasn’t back yet. He glanced at Varian, the teen was feigning sleep, but not quite pulling it off. Looking up again, he got to his feet and walked around, searching for Lance and any of the others.

Abruptly, he heard Lance’s loud voice drift towards him from his left. After shooting another glance at Varian to make sure he was all right, Eugene headed toward his friend’s voice. 

“...you’ve gotta do it like _this!_ ” Lance’s sentence ended in a grunt. Eugene broke through a wall of ferns to see Rapunzel, Angry, and Catalina standing in front of Lance with matching amused expressions as he tried (and failed) to break a tree branch over his knee. Just then, Max trotted over to them from the opposite direction Eugene came and dropped several large sticks in front of the group.

“Thanks, Max,” Rapunzel said, rubbing the horse’s nose. It was then that Lance noticed Eugene. 

“Eugene!” he exclaimed. He lowered his voice quickly and put his hand on the side of his mouth as he leaned toward him. “Varian sounded like he needed to get some stuff off his chest, so I figured I‘d make sure you two got some space.”

Eugene was touched (and slightly surprised) by Lance’s thoughtfulness, and he gave the other man a grateful smile.

“So everything all good now?” Lance asked at a normal volume.

Eugene looked over at Rapunzel, Angry, and Catalina and saw each of them (even Angry) looking at him with worried faces and hopeful eyes. 

“Yeah, Varian should be fine now,” he said softly. Angry and Catalina both slumped in relief, but Rapunzel narrowed her eyes, reading between the lines.

“Girls?” she said. “Why don’t you two, Lance, and Max bring this firewood back to camp? I need to talk to Eugene about the um…” She fumbled around for a moment before saying, “The incantation! Yes, the incantation that I used today.”

The four she’d directed the suggestion to, looked at her strangely before nodding in agreement.

“And don’t wake Varian up!” Eugene called after them as they started to move away. “He’s had a rough day!”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll make sure not to wake V up,” Angry responded, waving her hand over her shoulder dismissively.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Rapunzel turned to Eugene seriously.

“Alright, spill,” she commanded.

“It’s Cassandra,” Eugene said slowly, suddenly reluctant to tell his girlfriend about what her former best friend had done. 

“What about her?” Rapunzel asked stiffly, refusing to meet his gaze.

“She’s…” Eugene’s voice died in his throat. What was wrong with him? He was just raging about her a moment ago!

Rapunzel raised an eyebrow. “She’s…? She’s what?” the princess prompted.

“She drugged Varian,” Eugene heard himself blurt. “And she’s the one who cracked his ribs.”

Rapunzel seemed to choke on her own spit.

“Cracked his ribs?” she asked weakly in a strangled voice. “Drugged him? With what? Why?”

Eugene took a breath to collect himself. “A truth serum,” he said. “She found it in Varian’s bag. She wanted the incantation and knew he wouldn’t give it to her willingly. Varian thinks that’s also why he keeps coughing, said it might be a side effect or something.”

Rapunzel nodded, but appeared to be dying inside. “And how- Why did she crack his ribs?” she asked though it looked as if she didn’t really want to know the answer.

Eugene sighed and looked into his beloved girlfriend’s suddenly tearful eyes. “Varian said she got angry.”

Rapunzel went pale and looked like she might be sick. Eugene had no idea what to say to make her feel better, so he settled for wrapping his arms around her and letting her cry silent tears onto his shoulder as she mourned the woman she once thought of as her closest friend.

-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-

**Roughly 30 Minutes Earlier**

A scream rent through the quiet forest making Rapunzel squeeze her eyes shut. He’ll be okay. He’s not dying. Eugene’s helping him. If they were in trouble, Max would come find me. She repeated the words in her head, trying desperately to beat down her anxieties. 

“Princess?” a young voice asked. Rapunzel opened her eyes to see Catalina standing in front of her, Angry stood behind her, arms full of sticks. They both looked pale and scared, though Angry was obviously trying to hide it.

“Yes?” Rapunzel said, leaning down slightly.

“Will V be okay?” Catalina didn’t bother hiding her fear for her friend, her eyes round with worry.

“Of course he will!” Rapunzel reassured them. Her voice came out a lot more confident than she felt, something the princess was grateful for. “Eugene’s helping him.”

Another scream sounded through the trees, pitching higher toward the end in a sign of obvious agony as if to contradict her words. Not helping, Rapunzel thought, slightly irritated with the timing, and then immediately felt bad.

“He’ll be fine,” Rapunzel forced out, this time not sounding very confident. The girls’ faces remained fraught with worry--Angry seemed to have given up trying to hide it. 

“He will,” Rapunzel reaffirmed, still not sounding very certain.

-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-

**Present**

When Rapunzel returned to camp with Eugene, a fire had already been started and was crackling merrily. But Rapunzel ignored it, instead, following everyone’s glances to Varian’s sleeping form.

He still looked horrible, but he seemed somehow better than he had before. His face was covered in a sheen of sweat that glistened in the firelight, and his eyes had dark bags under them. Rapunzel could see the careful wrappings winding around his chest and the tender way he held himself even when asleep, but, overall, he looked a little more relaxed than he had been; a little more comfortable. And, until they got back to the castle and acquired real medical attention, this was probably the best they could do for him.

The princess sighed and sat down next to her boyfriend, leaning against him tiredly, while still occasionally throwing glances at Varian’s sleeping form.

-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-

Unbeknownst to the group, Cassandra had been watching them. Keeping her distance, but remaining within earshot. 

Several times, she almost made her presence known. 

When Eugene was reporting Varian’s cracked ribs, she almost apologized.

When they were popping Varian’s ribs back into place, she almost wanted to hold his hand; comfort him.

When Varian told Eugene what she… what she did, she almost cut in to defend herself, to explain herself. Varian didn’t understand! This was her destiny, it was different. And she hadn’t even realized she’d hit Varian so hard! She didn’t mean to! He was just getting too close, she’d wanted to push him back! It was his own fault! He was being nosy! If he hadn’t have pushed and prodded so much, none of it would’ve happened.

But she couldn’t completely block the voice in her head that whispered to her. _Your fault. Your fault. He can barely breathe and it’s your fault. You gave him the serum and now you’re making him SUFFER-!_

She shut down the voice before it could get any farther. 

Giving Varian’s sleeping figure one last glance, she turned away and disappeared into the darkness of the trees, heading back to the tower. Back to her mentor. Back to her _destiny_. Because it was all for her destiny… Right?

-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-~V~-

After she left, Varian shifted in his sleep, shuddering before stopping with a wince, his face pinched in pain. His frown grew more pronounced as a dream floated through his mind. 

The grinning young girl--the same one as last time except she wasn’t blue anymore--turned to him. Suddenly, she was right in his face.

“ _Vaaaarriiiiaaaaaan_ ,” she sang, her unnerving smile splitting her face in two.

She was behind him now, her mouth next to his ear. “ _Varian!_ ”

A spire of black rocks shot towards him out of the darkness, slamming into his chest with the force of an avalanche. 

Varian shot awake with a scream of terror and pain. The others woke up around him, shouting in alarm and scrambling for weapons. Varian simply gasped for air as his chest pulsed agonizingly in time with his racing heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Please let me know of any formatting/grammatical/plot issues. Also keep in mind I do not have any medical training whatsoever beyond a high school CPR health unit, so I have no idea if any of what Eugene did was accurate. I looked up what to do and look for, but obviously that isn’t always correct. If you know the actual procedures one would follow with broken/dislocated ribs, please let me know in the comments!


End file.
